Bodhi bath comments

OK, this is really what Bodhi said about baths. I think it translates to "I am glad that is over!"

Bodhi's thoughts....

This is what Bodhi thinks of baths! He'd rather be leading dog teams for sled dog adventures anyday!
Bodhi looks very handsome though. He loves to dig and roll in the dirt so seeing him clean and back to his lovely creamy white is a treat!

Turbo....happy he had a bath

Turbo...COOL...happy...clean...undercoat all shed out! And terrifically handsome!

Turbo pre-bath

Turbo...voted most in need of a bath, scrub and blow dry and major brush out! Poor Turbo is shedding an entire sheep skin out of his coat.
Turbo is one of the hardest working BBSDA dogs. On dog sled rides and tours he is the engine of uphill travel AND speed! I love you Turbo!

Cool sled dog!

Kubota staying cool in the shade on freshly simple greened and hosed blocks. This guy is no dummy! Kubota is one of the BBSDA go-to leaders. He is excellent on the dog sled tours and rides. Always taking the team perfectly thru whatever turns and manuvers are needed. And looking like such the handsome sled dog too!!

Rainy and her daughters Pema and Bridget

The three girls (Pema left, Bridget center and Rainy to the right) in the heat pen....not in heat but I just hope any day now we will get that over with! They were on a perfect schedule of Oct/April...what happened??

This pen is alternately called the puppy apartment as it is completely separate from the main kennel (no puppies can be chewed through a fence) and there are two kennels next to each other that can have a door opened between them.  The kennel next door has the momma house - an extra large dog house with bumper rails.  Usually when the pups are small I open the door between kennels but place a board over teh door way so momma can go next door to get away or do her business.  There is a big grassy pen next to the apartment that is for puppy play time.

It would be nice to have puppies again!

Do dogs tan?? Should sibes wear sunscrean??

Pearl is trying to get a tan on her belly...

Kennel spring cleaning

Emma helping to clean out the winter's hay from thr dog houses.

Blanche turns SEVENTEEN 4/23/11

Blanche, my sweet old house dog and retired (amazing) lead dog is turning SEVENTEEN this Saturday! (4/23/2011) She will get to celebrate with a few of her favorite folks on Friday. 
Blanche came to me when she was 9. She was a super leader and was the first leader I had who could keep up with Rainy, my hot young lead dog. They were a beautiful pair, like runaway brides in their pretty white coats and fluffy tails held behind them like trailing vails.

Pema and Bodhi pass CERF tests Spring 2011

6 year old Pema passed her most recent CERF eye exam this past Sunday along with 3 year old Bodhi. Not sure what our breeding plans are but Bodhi is certainly one of our best sled dogs and a leader to boot. Pema is also a great sled dog plus a real sweet cuddle bug. Bodhi has competed in Rally obedience and is a very fun dog to work with. He has his Rally Novice title so far. Pema has only been to beginner obedience and while she is sweet and easy to work with she doesn’t seem to excel at it. She is more of a pro-snuggler!

Katie and the 10 dog team, from point dogs back. 3/16/11 at Dorchester.

Katie Esty driving the 10 dog A team on the dble drvr sled. Dorchester 3/16/11.
It was a gorgeous snowy day. We did 10 mile rd then Rocky trail then out to Lyme a ways.

Running at Dorchester trails 3/16/11

The river next to No Dorchester Rd

Siberians make good pillows

Angus using Boomer for a pillow.

Danielle and Ronda out for a ride

Danielle and her mom Ronda out for a sled dog ride on Bridgewater Mountain. Ronda is Emma's babysitter.

Danessa's sled dog ride

Danessa out with me and the 10 dog 'A' string on Bridgewater mountain.

A girl taking a sled dog ride at the MVG. She said it was the most fun she'd ever had!

Danessa tucked into my CB Sled.

Resting during the rain and snow

Day two of rest after a 7 day stretch of mushing madness.  The dogs are so fit right now, I wish I was entered in the Can Am race.  My little puppy leader, Bodhi, is doing amazing.  Our last tour run on Sunday he took commands in a series that wove us through a knot of snow machiners taking up a large trail junction.  Given that he is still a little afraid of snow machines, that is pretty amazing.  I think my first string of 10 dogs is the best pool of dogs I have ever run!  A few are getting older, next year it may be a pool of 8.  So....again...I so wish we were Can Am bound!  I love these guys!  The second string, mostly older dogs, is doing great too.
We have given tons of people a beautiful sled dog ride or tour this winter and the dogs have met and charmed folks young and old.

Happy team post run.

Back on our home trails!

We had our first run on our old stomping grounds.  The conditions were a little sketchy, the well groomed trail was hard hard hard.  The bits down the center that had been churned up by snomo traffic were chunky and gritty.  But it was great to be climbing up our mountain again and cruising down the pretty trails.

I ran the B team first, thinking it was going to get pretty warm.  They are all fairly heavy coated.  I had to put Nikka back in the truck, she was acting like she didn't want to go.  The other 9 were happy on the trail, it was not as bad as I thought.  I kept their speed down low.  The dogs were gee'd over so hard that they were on the glare ice where no snomobiles had dared to travel (they always go down the center of the trail).

On the A team we were still short Rainy, who is still limping slightly.  The other 9 pulled like crazy and I was using the drag on uphills to keep the speed down!  I am so impressed with Bodhi in lead.  He is a Good Boy!  And really goes.  Twinkle likes him too, they make a nice lead pair.  But what an age difference...she is 8 and he is 3.  Oh no...the "find another leader" game will be back in play soon I fear.  No worries for this year though.  Twinkle loves to run with Bodhi and though he is sometimes a step faster she works hard to be up front and is showing she really does know commands after all.  (She had a bad year running with Tula, neither wanting to push or pull the other into a turn....)

I love my dogs!!!  They are fit and ready for the busy vacation week doing dog sled tours and dog sled rides!

Cute little TART!!!

Isn't she just the cutest???

Pam Flowers - amazing sled dog driver

I got to see Pam Flowers speak on Feb 3, second time I have seen her.  She gave a presentation on her arctic expedition at Moultonboro's "One Book - One Community" kick off.  SHE IS AMAZING!!!  She is truly my hero.   And I am so impressed with Moultonboro as a community.  This year they hare having  a theme "Sled Dog Oddessy", and 4 books instead of one!!!


She completed a 2500-mile dog sled trek across Arctic America with her 8 dog team and two huge sleds. This is the longest solo dog sled trek by a woman in recorded history. The first solo by a woman and the first by an American over this route: from Barrow, Alaska to Repulse Bay in Canada's Nunavut Territory.


I took the opportunity to get more copies of 3 of her books that I love: Alone Across the Arctic, Big Enough Anna and Douggie (the second two are fabulous childrens books that my little Emma LOVES).


Learn more about Pam, her books and her expeditions here: www.pamflowers.com

Boomer and Angus hanging out

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Gratitude - leaders!!!!

I have to express my utter gratitude for the gifts from the universe in the shape of wonderful LEAD DOGS.  From the beginning there was Nikka, who as a puppy was aided by some older lead dogs we adopted.  She had the right stuff from the get go. We adopted Ebony, a 9 year old alaskan sweetheart.  She was professional and hard working and cute as a button.  We adopted Boomer, another older dog with tons of experience.   He brought heart and soul and a debonair attitude.  Nikka learned from these guys and then helped train Rainy.  Rainy, a true leader and all you could ever want, quickly learned from Nikka but then needed a faster dog to pair with her.  The universe was looking out for me...  Blanche fell into our laps.  Another 9 year old dog.  Blanche and Rainy were a pretty pair, fast and perfect.  Nikka trained several dogs to run with her, starting with her handsome brother Siepa.  Then later her good friend Kubota.  Nikka and Kubota are the lead pair I can count on for tricky situations, new trails, and constant great behavior.  I'd hate to be without them, but Nikka is getting on in age and starting to show she will need to retire sometime soon.
Blanche retired and was replaced by little Twinkle.  Twinkle and Rainy were a great pair, Twinkle brought a hard driving attitude and these two were utterly dependable and fast.  Rainy has retired back into team and several dogs have been tried up front with Twinkle.  Finally, a puppy has stepped up: Bodhi.  He is Rainy's son.  He has the trail ethic we needed, and his attitude to get down the trail is phenomenal.  He is smart and Twinkle is teaching him the ropes.  They have great chemistry together, and they look handsome too!

Thank you to the universe, the Great Mother, all the dogs in these guys pedigrees, and all the breeders who helped shape these leaders!

17 miles with 10 dogs....flying!

I have been training 10 dog teams for sled dog rides/tours all season and have had few snow runs without passengers.  Today I had the Twinkle/Bodhi team and we went all the way to the Franklin Falls Dam from Profile Falls in Bristol.  The dogs loped for about 10 miles continuously, and then finally settled into a trot for the rest of the run.  I saved side trails for the way back as a treat for the dogs, but some were not broken out right (drunk or crazy snow machiners).   In one set we ended up doubling back on ourselves and coming out the way we went in, which involved breaking trail in pretty deep snow.  Quiet a change from the hard packed and fast main trail.
The run was so perfect: exciting, relaxing, fun and even funny at times.  I love watching Bodhi learn.  And watching Twinkle get her mojo back!  She really likes running lead with Bodhi.
The whole team was:
Twinkle & Bodhi
Pema &  Bridget (eventually put Pema in wheel bcs she was ruining our perfect GEE over)
Java & Turbo
Tula & Hakka
Rainy & Smudge (Rainy went up and took Pema's place)

Tomorrow I am taking the Kubota/Nikka team out.  Not sure where I will go.  Maybe explore the Bridgewater trail conditions?

14 sled dog tours in 4 days....tails wagging and all dogs cuddled up

Starting with breaking trail on Friday with Katie, a family of four on Saturday and then busy days up at the hotel with Tom my teams did 14 tours these last 4 days.  So much fun!
Today the dogs all got massages.  Lots of lazy happy tail wags and dogs paired up cuddling in dog houses.

Website Launched

We have a website!  It's a plain website, soon to be a very exciting website.  Created by BBM Designs.
www.barking-brook.com
Full launch of the website should be mid-January!

We are in the Paper!

We are in the state section of the New Hampshire Union Leader, 1/3/11!!!
Article entitled: Kennels offering Sled Dog adventures, Call of the wild  By Roger Amsden
The article has a great photo of my new sled, me, Linda Isabelle (who was helping me out that day) and two of our first customers!  Too bad I was wearing my silly hat that day.
It was a great tour day, 8 people from the Biller family came out and rode in pairs.

Fabulous day with two Friends and 20 Dogs

Today I met my friends Scott and Linda Isabelle at the Hill trails.  Linda said she would help me anyway I needed, and I took her up on the offer!  She was a huge help, doing half the work of prepping first one team and then the other.  It was great, I was able to get both teams out today without exhausting myself.  Further joy was having an adult to talk to for HOURS!  Scott ran his team with us while we ran my A team.  We did lots of nice passing work on the way out and then we turned around at about 4 miles to head back.  We saw him again for a head on pass as we headed out with the B team.
It was a truly spectacular day, thank you Linda!

Clever Dogs doing Clever Things

Did that just happen?  How did those three dogs get out of their kennel into the play area???

Go and put them back in....
Put the little carabeener into the latch just to be safe....
And wow!  Looking over I see Java Bean on his hind legs, carefully and slowly manipulating the kennel door latch with his front paws and nose!  And I have an extra witness, KTST saw this too.

I think Java bean usually waits till I am not looking, but he must have been extra worried I was going to leave his group behind when I loaded the dog truck!

Christmas Mush - Dogs at the truck

A nice photo taken by Kelly Berg.  I love how Rainy is Howling away!

Kennels v Tie Outs

Now that we are into some nice chilly weather I am finding multiple dogs per dog house cuddled up.  Cutest thing ever.  Each dog has his own house, but I am sure it is warmer with two.  Tie out dogs cannot do that!

Holidays, ice, sick baby....brain wave

After many things conspiring to keep the dogs miserable in the kennel (and poor Emma pretty miserable too) we finally get an overall break.  Today we met the usual local folk at Hill for the Christmas Mush.  Not sure what was so Christmas-y about it besides a few bad holiday decorations!!!  But it was great to get out with the dogs, get a break from Emma, know Emma was recovered from being sick and to have great cold weather to boot.  The dogs did wonderfully, perfect passing, hard pulling, good behavior.  I bumped little Blossom up for a trial on the A team and she worked very well.  She was a little overdone afterwards, tired and a little sick to her tummy. I chalk that up to her not being as fit since the B team is not getting out much at all.

Someone told me today that the ban on mushing at Profile Falls/Shaw Cove on weekends before noon has been listed.  Hurray!

Today we saw many old friends.  I find it interesting that nearly everyone has moved to large ATV's.  I love my little ATV and it is a perfect fit for my 10-dog A team.  A little heavy for my older dogs (also a 10 dog team).  Ironically I am contemplating swapping out my sweet little honda 250 for my husbands beast honda 450.  I think there is at least at 200 pound weight difference.  What I am thinking of doing is changing my mind set from two 10-dog teams to 4 five-dog units.  Swapping out units, running 3 units at a time (15-dog team) I think all the dogs would get on average 3 runs a week if I myself ran 4 times.  It wont be as fun, it will be a lot more stressful and limiting, but if the conditions hold like they are now I can get more miles on more dogs.

Holiday week frustration....

 UGH! My few hours of babysitting...and my road is iced over...not enough time to drive somewhere and cannot run the team here on iced hills.... SAD!

Tarps down....

The past few years I have taken the tarps down a few days too late, after a snow has fallen and stretched the tarps out with weight.  Not this year!  Right on time, and a snow the next day!!

6 miles at good old Hill Village

I went to Hill Village for the first time this year.  It's not a weekend, so I could go.  NH Musher's Association agreed to ban mushers on weekends before noon at Hill Village/Profile Falls and also Shaw Cove.  From what I understand it was explained that this was due to several incidents between sled dogs and hunting dogs.   Which I find strange....considering the hunting dogs are breaking one of the only rules that is posted right on the Army Core of Engineers website and if they were on leash as they ought to be probably no issues would occur.

Grumbling aside....
It was lovely and very quiet due to the weather (wet and cold).  We passed hunting dogs a few times, might have been the same dog each time.  Bells!  The dogs were psyched to go somewhere so easy, nearly flat, and they flew through the first 3 miles.  After that their wind was a little gone, and we took several rest stops to allow them to continue to work hard.  Their wind will come back, it's early days yet in their training.

There were a lot less puddles than I hoped, with the recent rain I was hoping for lots of big splashy puddles for them to cool off in.  At the second watering stop they were still pretty thirsty so next time I have to bring more than 2 gallons of water.   It takes about 1.5 gallons to water 10 dogs on each stop.

Twinkle ran lead with Bodhi.  They are a nice pair.  Twinkle never poops in harness, and Bodhi has a great signal he gives when he wants to stop to poop.  He jumps high into the air!!!  Of course the two have other great qualities up front, hard driving and mostly taking commands.  Twinkle ran for years next to Bodhi's mother (Rainy) and they were the perfect lead pair, always taking commands right away.  Twinkle has run with Tula the last few years but the dynamics between the two biggest bitches in the kennel don't work very well for taking commands, neither seems to want to push or pull the other...so they often just stand there looking numb.  I am hoping that Twinkle will get back to her clever self with her new partner.  And Bodhi is very smart, so he should pick up commands very easily.  He is a nice obedience partner and earned his Rally Novice degree this summer.

Also on the team were:
Rainy and Pema at point
Java Bean and Turbo
Hakka and Tula
Bridget and Pearl at wheel (spelling the bigger dogs who usually run at wheel)

Pearl has always been on the A string but this year I bumped her back to B.  Smudgie has a sore foot though, so my sweet Pearl is back with the A string.  She is a great dog, always doing what she should and never doing anything naughty.  Only this year she is not pulling very hard!!!  She is only 8, no where near retiring age!  Though she is a great housedog, a true luxury companion.  Always clean, cuddly, fluffy, and super hugable.

Well that's all...I should be cleaning house!

Ice!

I woke to the sound of ice this morning.  I headed to the kennel and things were indeed covered by a thin sheen of ice, quite slippery on smooth surfaces like the patio blocks, but OK on the rocks in the play area.  And the gravel driveway seemed ok too.  I loaded up both teams and headed to my training spot.  I decided to run the B team first, in case things were more slippery than they seemed.  Well...they were.  The team struggled up Poole Hill rd, only to zip down it on our way back.  We were sliding around, ass end of the ATV trying to spin.  The ATV also acted funny.  I ran the engine for extra hold back, only I had to jump it to get the engine going and the gas would not work. I decided not to run the A team, and fed everyone at or in the truck.
Thankfully Terry happened to be at the townhouse working on the Bean Hole Beans new building.  He pull-started the ATV for me and I got it back on the trailer.

I sure hope we have better luck tomorrow.

The teams are in training!

We've been out for our first few runs, hurray!
We've been using our home trails and the dogs are already getting tougher for it.  Today, a warm and humid training day no less, we bumped up the miles a little.  The dogs did great.  Bodhi and Twinkle led the whole run. Recent rain left lots of mud puddles and the  dogs charged right through them, cooling off and getting seriously BROWN!

The old old old days!

A two dog team on the old baby-blue rig.  Anuk and Siepa in their youthful glory!  Siepa still works but Anuk has long since retired to the house.

This is a real oldie.  Sasha and Siepa at the truck.  A very old dog truck by the way...we still have that truck but not the boxes,

Nikka and Siepa in their GLORY

Nikka and Siepa are aging...Nikka a little more so than her brother Siepa.  Here are some photos from a race long ago in Meredith with my step daughter driving.  Nikka and Siepa look awesome!  Nikka has always been the most responsible and smart leader, one you would have no issue loaning to a newbie musher.  She has taken care of lots of people!

Barking Brook Sled Dog Adventures LLC is born

This winter Whatleigh will be giving sled dog tours!
After one season off for maternity leave it's time to get back on the sled runners.  And the atv and the rig and...  !
A website with tour descriptions will be coming soon, for now see the tab above, this blog now has an extra page that is home to descriptions of the tours I will be offering.
Check back soon to see what is cooking.

Bodhi's future handler??
wt

Bodhi reflecting on his big day at the North Conway show and rally trials.
He went into the breed ring for AmBred and took first*. Then rally was next. He was a pretty darn good boy. We had practised quiet a bit. He got a score of 90, took first place in his class and finished his rally novice title!
wt

Lakes Region Kennel Club Rally Trials 8/28/10

Darka and Tula rock!

On a miserably hot day I took the two girls to the Rally trial. We met the Alexanders there. We had Emma-Lizzie with us too, who also was a good girl. Our judge was super fun and the course was gentle. Tula was entered once and finished her title. Darka was entered twice and she also finished her title.

Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

some have wall to wall carpeting....some have wall to wall retired sled dogs!
wt

Big Day at Yankee

Today I showed Darka at the Yankee Siberian Husky Specialty Show. It was my first post-baby show. Darka was in rally Novice A and then in the breed ring in both the American Bred Bitch class and the Sled Bitch class. Emma came along and was a really good girl.

Darka was groomed up wonderfully by Kim Berg. She is so clean right now I want to make her a permanent house dog. Gorgeous!

We were helped out HUGELY by my friend Corina during the packing and preparations.

We were helped out AT the show by Corina and her super sweet husband Scott and by Deb Deburgio.

So I have a lot of people to thank for making my really great day possible.

And.... drum roll please! Darka got her first Rally leg!!! And placed first in her Rally class.

Then she was in the breed ring. Darka came in second in the Am Bred class. Next we were in sled dog class against one really gorgeous bitch witch we took second too as well.

It was a super hot day despite the tame forecast of partly cloudy and 70. More like all sun and 80 something plus humidity! And yes, Darka is dark, so it was hot for her out in the ring.

Funny/cute comments from the breed judge were "she is so clean" and "look at the thighs on this woman" ( I sincerely hope she was talking about my Darka there....). The judge also said she really loved Darka's old fashioned head. Not enough to place her first, but hey, it was YANKEE and second is fine with me.

xo

Back to Christmas

Some house doggies waiting for Christmas.

Yeah, Boomer loved the tree this year!

A baby Blue Dog, named Angus

Hi I am Angus. I am an Aussie puppy. I am here to keep the Torsey family cozy.

It looks like I have a human puppy just my size to make friends with.

I really do not know why those huskies call me a wimp....

Don't all puppies get carriage rides?